"Alright, Ron, I can ask McGonagall if I get a chance."
With the encouragement of Professor Bran, Harry made a decision that was more in line with his wishes.
Hermione's beautiful brows furrowed in displeasure as she glared at Ron, ready to retort, but before she could speak, Cruckshanks with a fat, frightened rat already unconscious jumped onto her knees from nowhere.
"It has to eat that in front of us? It's going to stink up the common room!"
Ron also furrowed his brow and said in disgust.
"You can eat this in the courtyard, Cruckshanks..."
That sounds like a good idea, even Hermione wouldn't want mouse guts and blood to stain her pristine wizard's robe, she said gently, trying to pick up Cruckshanks and carry him out of Gryffindor's common room. But to her surprise, the creature perched on her knee suddenly leaped nimbly onto the coffee table, evading her hand, and its yellow eyes fixed on Ron intently.
"Get it out of here, Hermione!"
Ron angrily drew out his hard-earned planetary trajectory map from under Cruckshanks, scowling at the creature in disgust,
"It almost ruined our astronomy homework, and, plus, Spotty's sleeping in my backpack. Do you want it to see this cat eat its own kind?"
Cruckshanks stared at Ron immobile, but after hearing this, its fluffy tail twitched, it peered into Ron's backpack, raised its chin, as if showing off the mouse it had in its mouth. Its yellow eyes shone with an incomprehensible radiance.
"What are you going to do?"
Ron's look at Cruckshanks made him even more alert, and he hugged his backpack irritably, asking, "What are you up to?" But Cruckshanks showed no sign of backing down; instead, it stretched its neck forward and gently bit at the mouse in its mouth.
"I'll think--"
Cruckshanks' demeanor confused Hermione as well, but Harry burst out laughing, unable to contain his amusement, looked at Ron, and expressed his thoughts.
"It looks like it's trying to trade the mouse in its mouth for your Spotty, Ron!"
Ron stared at Hermione for a moment, then glared at her angrily.
"There you go, Hermione, this crazy cat just wants to kill Spotty. I really don't get why you have to bring this beast back!"
"Don't be absurd, Ron!"
Glaring at Harry with an arrogant look, Hermione impatiently said,
"Cruckshanks has no reason to do this, maybe he just wants to introduce a friend for Spotty!"
Saying that, she stood up and tried again to grab Cruckshanks.
Cruckshanks again avoided Hermione's embrace, and it seemed to have realized that the deal had failed. The little boy in front of him was not willing to trade a fake mouse in his backpack for the real one in his mouth. So, it hopped onto the armrest of the sofa and slowly sat down, its eyes flashing with a fierce light.
What followed can only be described as a disaster.
Cruckshanks turned his head and threw the mouse in his mouth that had just recovered from the shock into the air, coincidentally, it got caught in Hermione's roommate, Lavender Brown's bow tied on her head which was worrying about Trelawney's prophecy. Confused, Lavender took off the mouse from her bow tie hair clip and put it in front of her eyes...
Ah!
The terrifying scream could almost burst through the eardrums, causing the noisy common room to fall silent instantly. Hermione had no time to apologize for Cruckshanks when Lavender, who was about to rush into Pettel's arms, had already thrown the mouse out again before she could. The mouse, making a graceful arc in mid-air, landed on Neville and Seamus's chessboard.
The mouse, quick-witted, quickly moved away from the turned chessboard and climbed up Neville's chest along his knee, then, a leap, its claws hooked onto Neville's nose!
"Everyone freeze!"
The sudden scare made Neville look like he was about to suffocate, but thankfully, Ginnie at the other side of the common room, who was talking to Colin, was quick and precise with a Stun spell, hitting Neville's nose accurately.
With everyone trying hard to stifle their laughter, the round-faced Neville, with red face, tremblingly stood up. This made it impossible for the immobilized fat mouse's stiff claws to still hook onto his nose. With a slap, it fell heavily to the ground.
At the sound of that, Neville, who had a slight babyfat, trembled on his cheeks again. In a daze, he remembered the night at the end of first-year exams, the fear of being petrified by the stoning spell...
"Sorry, Neville--"
Hermione hurried past one student after another, and came to Neville who was collapsed on the sofa again. She had a sweaty and pretty face full of apologies.
"It's just an accident, Neville, Cruckshanks didn't mean it--"
Neville was about to speak, but suddenly a loud and angry shout came from the direction of the fireplace. Hermione quickly turned around and had a look. She was shocked.
Taking advantage of everyone's attention being drawn by the mouse, Cruckshanks suddenly flew forward, its four paws deeply dug into Ron's backpack and ferociously tore at it.
"Get away, you dumb beast!"
Ron tried to pull his backpack away from Cruckshanks, but the latter wouldn't let go, tearing it savagely with its teeth.
"Don't hurt it, Ron!"
Hermione screamed, because, unable to drive Cruckshanks away, an angry Ron was wildly swinging his backpack like a windmill, but even so, he couldn't dislodge Cruckshanks. Instead, Spotty from the backpack flew out as the bag was opened.
To catch these two crazy little animals, all the little wizards in the room started to act, and finally, Spotty was pulled out from under an old cupboard by Ron, while Hermione, who was disheveled and covered in dirt, fell to the ground and desperately tried to hold onto struggling Cruckshanks.
"Now you're happy, aren't you?"
Roaring, Ron, angry and shocked by the sight of his thin, trembling and shivering Spotty in his palm, exclaimed.
"Cruckshanks was just--"
Hermione's eyes shone with tears, weakly trying to explain for Cruckshanks, but before she could finish, Ron rudely cut her off.
"The cat just wants to pick on Spotty, when will you ever admit it!"
"How can you talk to Hermione like that, Ron?!"
Ginny rushed over from the other side of the common room quickly, lightly embracing Hermione's weak, trembling shoulder, and angrily staring at Ron who was trying to lure Spotty back into his pocket.
Angry Ron raised his head to say something, but after seeing tears already welling up in Hermione's eyes, he hesitated for a moment.
"Don't let that beast show up in front of me again, Hermione, otherwise--"
Ron grumbled a sentence only Hermione and Ginny could hear before angrily walking away, leaving Ginny even more angry and Hermione with a face full of sorrow and helplessness.
"Ron just cares too much about Spotty, Hermione--"
Harry hesitated and said, looking at Cruckshanks in Hermione's arms, " logically, I agree with Ron's view, but this strange orange cat seems to be targeting Spotty." However, he couldn't say that in front of Hermione.
"Don't worry, I'll go talk some sense into him."
Harry, already in a gloomy mood because he couldn't go to Hogsmeade, heaved a heavy sigh and walked back to the dormitory with weary steps.
Reading Room
